Once properly set-up (we'll get into that later) MQA Master files can be sent at either 88.2/24 or 96/24 (depending on the file itself) to any DAC that supports those bit rates. Does this make it unnecessary to own a DAC with built-in MQA decoding? Not quite. With an MQA-compatible DAC MQA files can be decoded at their maximum rate, which depending on the file could be as high as 384/32! So, without an MQA-compatible DAC the best you can get is 96/24, which is pretty darned good, but with an MQA DAC you get the maximum rate that a file can deliver